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Friday, July 30, 2010

POTG Travelogue Visits Mavericks and Friday Round-Up

This week, as we continue our Friday travelogue feature, we head to the west coast and make a pit stop in the ocean town of Half Moon Bay, California, which is located only 28 miles down the coast from San Francisco. We camped there last month at the Half Moon Bay State Park which was right on the beach.

I developed a fascination about Half Moon Bay several years ago when I watched the movie Riding Giants which is a great documentary by Stacy Peralta about big wave riders.

While most folks think of Hawaii and other exotic places for giant 60 foot waves, about 20 years ago, the surf world discovered Mavericks at Half Moon Bay and it is now recognized as the number one big wave spot in the continental US. (click on pictures to enlarge)

The first person to recognize Mavericks a a surfable spot was legendary surfer, Jeff Clark who grew up in Half Moon Bay. To that point the break and the rocks were only considered a navigational hazard. When Clark was in high school in the mid-70's, he could see the Mavericks break from his school and finally decided to give it a go.

For 15 years, Clark surfed by himself and could not get anyone else interested in seeing what he had in his own back yard. Then all of a sudden, surf magazines converged on his town and it was the next big thing and now Clark hosts the annual Mavericks Surf Invitational each winter.

Mavericks is not an easy place to get to. There is a half mile hike to a point and then another half mile swim to the main breaks. On the day we went to Half Moon Bay, we headed down the trail to the point and had not gone far before we ran into Jeff Clark himself.

Clark was incredibly friendly and surprised that folks from Tennessee were big fans of his and had watched Riding Giants the night before. After we talked, he posed for pictures and headed on back to his car.

The one thing I never understood from the movie was why he couldn't get anyone to come surf at Mavericks for 15 years. His only explanation was that in 1975 you could have had a lot there for free with a subscription the the San Francisco Chronicle. Even though it was close to the big city, no one would venture down there. Now a trailer on a pad goes for $500,000.

So, if you are ever in the bay area, after you do the San Francisco thing, head south down the beautiful coast highway and check out Mavericks and Half Moon Bay.

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